ok i have a 83 z28 camaro... and i have question about my alternator...

ok well here the story or something i guess

When i start my car the batter gauge or what ever is above 10 volts...

when i drive around with my $25 dollar system ( which sounds great ) it falls to 9-10 volts... and sometimes lower for a extended period of time.


Then when i use my blinkers my volt gauge starts to go up and down with my blinker...

so do i have a weak alternator or is there something else wrong?

 

May be there is a bad ground on the gauge. If the car is working great for a lot of mile without battery failure, then the alternator is working great. What is the drop with the rear window defrost on?

 

it doesn't work... the wires were cut when i bought the car and i rather not repair it... cause i need to rip off the inside panel and probably get a new wiring kit for it... so i just rather not go through it...


also would it be a bad battery? cause i think mine is going out...

 

I've heard that the stock voltage gauges aren't exactly reliable... Do you have access to a multimeter or anything like that? If you do, try taking readings with that to get a more accurate idea of what's going on.

 

ok will do and for how long will i need to do it for? or just test out myblinker when i do it? since that seems like it has the most effect on my gauge

 

Well, first take a reading at the battery while your car is idling. Make sure you don't have any accessories(Radio, Heater, etc) on. I believe it should be around 14 volts. It definitely has to be above 12 volts tho. If it's any lower than 12 volts, you have a problem in your charging system.

Then you can try turning accessories on and see how they affect the voltage. Overall, the voltage should really stay above 12 volts even with all the accessories on.

Also, when you take that first reading at the battery, compare it to what the dash voltmeter says. Just to see if the dash gauge is really that far off.

If I'm wrong about any of this advice, would someone please correct me? This seems like a good start, at least.

 

I would start the same, also first check for corrosion on bat. How old is the bat?
If bat is looking, it could be the bat, it could be the alternator or it could be a short circuit somewhere...

 

Big 3 will solve your problem and while your doing that then just clean all your connections. My blinkers make the voltage drop to but that is mostly a bad ground at the turn signals but its tolerable and everything works so I don't mess with it. just do a search on the Big 3 and it will fix alot of those problems and cleaning up the stock wiring, battery post, and alternator post will help. But if you have a stock SI type alternator then look into a CS130 swap and that will be a serious upgrade and give you the extra amps to spare.